A whole lot of scrappy deliciousness

Yesturday, I decided to take it easy.  I was going to wake up whenever my body wanted to and do whatever my mood decided.  I am starting to take back my time.  This is just the beginning of what I discussed in my previous post, and it was a very good beginning.

To start the day, my husband brought me tea in bed, which I very much enjoyed.  Just the thought of a leisurely morning softens my mood.  I sat up and drank my tea, thinking about what I should do next. In my head, I crossed off the word "should" and replaced it with "what do I WANT to do next".  Big difference!  I have to start training my thoughts in a more positive way that will get me closer to where I want to be....a more simplified life, where I can carve out some time for the things I want to do.

Naturally for me, what I wanted to do related to quilting.  Yesturday, my husband was heading to St. Catherine to a job site, to drop off stuff and he asked me if there was a quilt store up that way that I wanted to go to.  Isn't he the best!  In fact, there was a quilt store in St. Catherine that I hadn't been to yet called Up Your Quilt.  So this was perfect timing, as I am all caught up with customer quilting.

While I was there, I saw a lot of eye candy.  I picked up some fabric and decided to grab a novel related to quilts called The Basement Quilt by Ann Hazelwood.  I've been meaning to check one of these novels out.  There is another author they carried that I want to also try call To Scotland With Love by Patience Griffin, which I ordered on Amazon, as they did not have the first book of the Scotland series.

While browsing the shop, I was reminded of a quilt that I have been wanting to make for a long time, when I saw a pattern they carried.  The pattern was not quite the same as the one I want to make, but it was close enough to jog my memory.  So, while I drank my tea in bed, I pulled out my computer and started drafting the pattern on excel.  

This is what it looks like in my mind.  It is not a new pattern.  I am not reinventing the wheel, only resizing an existing pattern to work better with the size of scraps that I have on hand. Please excuse the shadow of my hand on the picture.  The only light really bright enough for pictures late at night is the kitchen, however as they are pot lights, there is nowhere I can get a picture without a shadow. 

What do you think?  I talked to my mom, who I think is also interesting in possibly making this quilt and making a dent in her scraps.  The picture above shows the double size quilt for her.  For me and my bed, I will have to add an extra two columns of blocks on the right hand side.  I will add an unpieced border.

I am at the moment calling this 11 patch Irish chain quilt.  Not very creative, I know, but oh well.  I was so absorbed by drafting out this pattern, that I didn't finish it and get out of bed until almost 11:30 am.  Wow!!  I don't remember the last time I had the luxury of staying in bed this long.  It was definitely a treat. 

Later in the day, when I got a few things that needed to be done, I slipped downstairs to my sewing room to organize my box of 2" square into piles of dark squares, through to medium squares, for the centre sections of the chain.  I am going to use them to make 4-patches as my leader/ender project, while working on other quilts.  It is going to take a while for this quilt, as there are many, many pieces.

The right hand side of the picture shows the instructions, though they may not be too clear, even if you enlarge it.  If anyone is interested, let me know.  I can send a PDF.

I am really looking forward to starting this quilt!!  Even though I already have many others I can be working on...that's how it goes....the new stuff is always more interesting.